


Fallout

by supershadsy



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 09:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7569436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supershadsy/pseuds/supershadsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking care of a very young Silver, Shadow reminisces about the chain of events that led him to a burning, broken world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fallout

**Author's Note:**

> Trying a different sort of narration style for this piece--I think it works in present tense. This takes place in a loose version of the _[Where Life Is Strong](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5058295)_ world, specifically Silver's bad future. The context is simply an easter egg, not a necessity. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Somewhere in the slowly burning remnants of Central City, Shadow watches a small hedgehog play with twigs in the dark. _He is still so playful,_ he thinks, red eyes dull as he hovers a pen over his diary. _He is still only a child, after all. It is such a shame that he has to be raised in a hell such as this. I would much rather have let him stay on the island where I found him..._  
  
_Silver..._  
  
_("Please!" the squirrel cried, thrusting the small bundle into his arms. "You need to take him, get him out of here--!"_  
  
_Panic surged through his chest. "I cannot," he managed to sputter, shaking his head slowly. "I am the one who brought ruin to this place, I am being pursued, for Chaos' sake, I cannot care for a child--"_  
  
_"Aren't you the one they call the ultimate life?" she insisted. Shadow didn't reply, but didn't resist as she adjusted the tiny hedgehog in his arms...)_  
  
Shadow sighs. _Keep him safe,_ she said to me. _I could barely do the same for myself._ He rolls his shoulders back, and catches the marred scars on his arms, barely patched over by his fur. _My body aches..._  
  
"Shadow, look!"  
  
He brings himself back into focus at the sound of Silver's clear voice. The twigs he has been playing with float in the air, surrounded by a cyan glow. Silver's whole body glows with the light, lighting up the dingy shelter in something more than red fire. His eye ridges furrow, ears twitching, and within a moment, the light vanishes, and the twigs clatter on the ground. "Aw..."  
  
"That was impressive," Shadow remarks. _He has a strange power, whether it is completely governed by Chaos energy still remains to be seen._ He marks his place in the diary by bookmarking it with his pen, and walks over to him, slow and even. "You are growing stronger."  
  
"Really?" Silver runs right up to Shadow's leg and hugs it, huge amber-yellow eyes bright like stars. _How long has it been since I've seen stars?_ Shadow muses as he smooths back the small hedgehog's quills. _How long has it been since I've seen a clear blue sky?_  
  
_Years, years, years._  
  
His jaw grows tight. _How long did I run before I was captured? Years, years, years. How long was I kept captive while they tried to dissect me, tear me apart when they could no longer siphon energy from the Emeralds? Years, years, years. And, how long has it been since I woke up in a desecrated lab, lethargic while my tired, alien hybrid body tried to regenerate itself?_  
  
_How long..._  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
Silver's voice is tentative and shy, and Shadow closes his eyes. _Silver, when I found you, you had no name, and your fur was almost pure white, flecks of gray scattered about. But, I still recognized you, even as small as you were. You were the reckless time-traveller, hell-bent on saving your broken world. You called yourself Silver,_  
  
_and therefore, retracing the steps of time like a clock, so did I._  
  
After a few moments, after he feels Silver paw at his sides, he opens his eyes back up and offers him a bare smirk. "I am fine," he replies. As he begins to walk back toward his diary, Silver isn't far behind, and grabs Shadow's hand with both of his. "Someday, you will be as strong as him."  
  
"Who's that?" Silver chirps. Shadow takes a seat, and Silver plops right in front of him, ears flicking, feet in boots too big tapping together. "Is it you?"  
  
Shadow shakes his head. "Not me," he says, "the greatest hero that ever lived."  
  
He has to bite the inside of his cheek hard before he can continue. "He was the spirit of the wind itself, the fastest thing alive. He was always there when his friends were in danger...no matter what."  
  
_("I bet the you in this place did everything he could to try and make sure it didn't come to this.")_  
  
Silver takes his description in awe, in stride, mouth open. All Shadow can see in his mind's eye is the slim, blue figure, red shoes, green eyes, and a cocksure grin to match. _You were always there, always there, until--_  
  
_Until..._

Finishing the thought makes his throat feel too tight to speak, so he doesn't.  
  
"He was brave, and fought until the very end for this world," Shadow continues, his voice barely a whisper. "And I was...privileged to call him my friend."  
  
"Wow," Silver says in awe. He scoots closer, right until he is in his lap, and he leans his head against Shadow's chest fur. "He sounds amazing..."  
  
Shadow strokes between Silver's budding back spines, the fur still baby soft and only barely growing out to coarse, silver strands. "He was," he mutters. "He was."  
  
His focus drifts to the last speck of gray orange sky visible through the shelter. _Every day, I wonder what_ you _would have done in this hellish landscape. You would have found a way to make this right. You would have used the Emeralds for a better purpose, than my feeble attempt to destroy Solaris. I could only burst it apart, and then the flames began,_  
  
_and they spread, far and wide..._  
  
Silver nestles heavier onto him, a small but significant weight, and he turns his head to cough. It's dry, and Shadow winces when he sees the pink stains of blood on his gloves. _When I reached Angel Island and found the Master Emerald disintegrated into shattered pieces, I understood, but I knew I had failed. When I had to leave Rouge behind, wings too weak to fly and a wheezing breath, I wanted to give up. When I escaped and I realized how much time had passed, and there was no one left that I knew,_  
  
_when the world held me for ransom..._  
  
_("And besides, even though everything's like this...would you stop fighting?")_  
  
_I thought of you, and here I am,_  
  
_keeping my promises,_  
  
_("Shadow, for all the people on that planet...")_  
  
_for a world that you and her both loved..._  
  
_Even as it dies in my hands._  
  
Silver yawns and nuzzles against him. "You're amazing too," he murmurs, speech slurred by sleep. "You could be a hero too, Daddy..."  
  
A shiver of adrenaline shoots up Shadow's spine as he freezes his stroking. _Me? You must be joking, you are too young to know any better, to know of my past, to know of all the mistakes I have made..._  
  
_("I always knew you were a hero, Shad...")_  
  
_But, he said the same thing._  
  
Shadow hears Silver begin to snore--it's gentle, but telling of the deep, dreamless sleep that children fall so easily into. He kisses right between his ears, and they flick in response. _Perhaps there is some hope in this world,_ he thinks as he cradles him, walking him over to the thin cloth that was a flimsy excuse for a bed. _If I can instill his spirit in you,_  
  
_if you can keep that sense of wonder,_  
  
_perhaps you can be the catalyst to save this world,_  
  
_no,_ his _world._  
  
Shadow tucks Silver in, and he quickly settles within his new position, curling into a small ball. Shadow removes his gloves, dropping them beside him, and walks back to his diary. _It has not been the same without you, Sonic the Hedgehog._  
  
_But, for everyone's sake but my own, I will keep fighting._


End file.
